Our Food Challenge – Week 1

15th April 2013/

Week one of our food challenge is well and truly over and I really enjoyed all the cooking I did for our family. This is how we got on with this weekes planned meals…

Shepherd’s Pie

Now I must admit this is my least favourite meal and I remember when I was little I used to pick out all the vegetables that my mum would put in hers, this must have drove her mad, but this is a good meal to hide the vegetables in and adding worcestershire sauce into eat makes me enjoy it, well nearly! I included sweetcorn and grated carrot in ours so thats two vegetables which for me is a positive step forward. This dinner also lasts us for two days which also helps with the budget.

Ethan’s Verdict: On the first night Ethan wouldn’t eat this and put up quite a fight with me until Darren came in and then he proceded to eat it for him. This means that if Ethan now rejects food from me I’m going to leave it for him to eat when Darren comes home from work as I used to be quick to jump to make a different dinner for him and we were wasting so much food in the process. On the second night Ethan ate this for Darren with no problems.

Creamy Tarragon Chicken Served With Mash and Peas

This was a new meal for us, prepared in the slow cooker and it was amazing. I didn’t use as much chicken as the recipe suggested as there is only really two and a half of us eating the dinner so we had lots of sauce to use but it was fantastic and a must for next weeks meal plan.

Ethan’s Verdict: There was no objection to eating this and he ate most of the meal which makes dinner so much more enjoyable when we don’t have to battle.

Green Bean Risotto With Pesto

This was another new meal for us found in the slow cooker cook book and risotto isn’t something I have made for dinner before so I wasn’t sure what Darren was going to think after coming in from a hard days work but he really enjoyed and and ended up eating two servings. We did have to change the ingredients at the last minute as Darren declared that he didn’t like green beans so it just ended up being pea risotto!

Ethan’s Verdict: Ethan loved this meal and kept leaning towards to spoon for more, a very rare occurrence in our house so I think I need to try more risottos for our dinners.

Beef and Root Vegetable Hotpot

I’m not a lover of this meal as its a bit like a stew and I just don’t like them but this meal means that Ethan is getting red meat and four different vegetables so it is a must for us every now and then. Its also one of Darren’s favourites so he often asks for it in the winter. Ethan’s Verdict: Ethan also isn’t really a lover of this meal but with Darren feeding him some of it was eaten.

Gingered Sweet Potato Soup

This soup was just for the adults as we haven’t really got Ethan onto soups yet, perhaps next winter he will be ready to try them. I love making homemade soups and this was also in the trusted slow cooker cook book. Our Verdict: The soup was lovely and creamy and it blended really well. It had a little kick to it which made it even better and we ate it with naan bread as suggested. We have enough stored in the freezer for next weekend’s lunches.

DIY Pasta Sauce

I like this pasta sauce as it has lots of different vegetables thrown in, including spinach and red peppers, and when it is blended you don’t even notice. It does go a slightly brown colour but it tastes amazing and there is always enough to freeze about four pots for future dinners. Ethan’s Verdict: Ethan can be very funny with pasta and loves garlic bread so the pasta often gets ignored but he ate some of the pasta that was offered to him.

Potato, Apple and Bacon Hotpot

I wasn’t sure about this one being another hotpot dish but because it included apples I wanted to give it a go. It smelt fantastic as it was cooking and tasted even better, this is another one added to our must do again list.

Ethan’s Verdict: He ate it all, no fights and also leaning in for more which I was amazed by.

Sausage Casserole, Beans and Sweet Potato Mash

This is my easy meal, throw it all in the slow cooker without any preparation so if we have a busy day planned this is what I normally cook. Ethan’s Verdict: Ethan dived right into this dinner as he likes beans and I did think that was all he was going to eat but surprisingly he fed himself this dinner and cleared his plate.

Creamy Pesto Chicken

I love pasta, I love pesto this had to be made. It was easy to do and smelt lovely when cooking, there was even enough left over for the freezer. I really enjoyed this meal, not so sure about Darren but he ate it.

Ethan’s Verdict: Ethan was more interested in the garlic bread than the pasta so didn’t really eat that much of this dinner. Perhaps not a good choice for him either!Overall I would say this was a good food week, I was a little worried how it would all pan out when Ethan started to fight me over the shepherd’s pie but I think we all enjoyed most of the food choices and discovered quite a few new favourites. Now I’m off to find new meals to try…

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